Senator XENOPHON —Sure, and no doubt we will hear from you about that. I want to go to the issue of the CASA audit—and maybe Mr Rossiter can assist us on this. Jetstar out of the Darwin-Singapore flights operates to an exemption to CAO order 48, which relates to flight and duty time limitations.
Mr Rossiter, at the time, on 18 September 2009, you were the manager of CASA Air Transport Operations Southern Region—correct?
Mr Rossiter —
That is correct.
Senator XENOPHON —And you signed off on this exemption?
Mr Rossiter —Yes, that is correct.
Senator XENOPHON —
You commenced work with Jetstar in—what was it?—December.
Mr Rossiter —
15 December.
Senator XENOPHON —And just for the record, because it was raised by previous senators—I think I know the answer, but I think to be fair to you: at what stage did you apply for a job with Jetstar?
Mr Rossiter —I did not in fact have a conversation with Jetstar about any potential of even entering into a process until after the time of the signing of that exemption.
Senator XENOPHON —That was in October some time?
Mr Rossiter —The exemption was about—
Senator XENOPHON —
The exemption was 18 September.
Mr Rossiter —
Yes, 18 September. It was about three weeks after that that I first had a dialogue with Bruce.
Mr Buchanan —Can say a few things on this one?
Senator XENOPHON —Yes, but you can understand why I am raising it—because it was raised by some of my colleagues. I am quite satisfied with that answer, but I think it is important to put that on the record.
Mr Buchanan —But just to give a bit of context around the CAO 48 exemption: that is a document that was renewed for the fifth time by Mark. It is a document that exists for almost all airlines in the world. It is a pretty standard process it goes through. It is really to deal with the flight time duty limitations that were derived back—I don’t know—50 years ago and were not really thought through.
Senator XENOPHON —That is not quite right, though, is it, because there is a difference between international operations and those short-haul international operations? That has been one of the challenges to CAO 48.
Mr Buchanan —I am talking about the original ones. That is why you have the CAO 48 exemption which exist now, which is trying to deal with modern jet operations, RPT services and—
Senator XENOPHON —and the shorter haul international legs?
Mr Buchanan —A combination of both, yes.
Senator XENOPHON —Sure. I accept that.
Mr Joyce —Can make another comment. It is a general point that should be made. The interchange between CASA and the airlines has taken place for some time. There is a sort of an impression that there may be some impropriety in having people change between the two organisations. We feel that it is actually really good for safety and the improvement of safety practices in this country to have that interchange, because people who come from the regulator into the airline get a different dimension, a different perspective and actually improve the safety within the airline community—and vice versa. We talked about CASA resources and CASA’s need to build up resources going forward. The prime source of those resources will come from the aviation industry. What we see within CASA is appropriate checks and balances. In this case there were appropriate checks and balances when Mark came across—for other people that review his approvals and his activities to make sure that the areas no impropriety in anything that occurs.
Senator XENOPHON —Mr Joyce, I am not suggesting it. I just think it was important to have that on the record: that at the time that the exemption was given Mr Rossiter had not engaged in any discussions with Jetstar. I want to be fair to Mr Rossiter. That is on the record.
Mr Joyce —I accept what you are saying, Senator. I just wanted to explain from our perspective that there are a lot of checks and balances and this is a good thing; it is not a bad thing.